Disciple Stephen was the first Christian martyr. He was stoned by the envious Jewish religious leaders; A great persecution against the newly forming Christian church began buy the Jewish religious authorities; the disciples of the risen Jesus were spreading the message of Jesus everywhere they could; one of the greatest Jewish persecutors of the newly forming church, the Pharisee Saul, had an encounter on the road to Damascus with the risen Jesus. Saul realized this Jesus he was wrongly persecuting was in fact God, and Saul's name was changed to Paul and he became the greatest apostle of Jesus and responsible for the writing of approximately 40 percent of the New Testament and did more than anyone else to spread the message of Jesus around the world. END OF THE PODCAST SERIES 'THE GOSPEL.